Coordinated movement machines, such as industrial robots, are used to position and support a tool, e.g., a welder, a grasper, a paint gun or a drill bit, for operation on work pieces. Conventional robots have limitations on the accuracy to position a tool with respect to the work piece.
In one known system for positioning a robot tool, many sensors are required to be mounted in different locations around the area in which the robot is working. Other robot positioning systems use lasers or other structured light to determine the position of the robot tool with respect to the work piece. Other robot positioning systems align the robot tool through the use of a two-dimensional checkerboard where external measurements are required to be taken. Each of the aforementioned systems can take a long time to calibrate the robot so that the position of the tool on the robot with respect to a work piece is known. Many of the aforementioned systems require a highly skilled robot operator to calibrate the robot for working on the particular work piece of interest.